Reading with reception to follow

The Great Eastern is a dazzling inventive literary adventure that intersects fiction and non-fiction–pitting two of literature’s most iconic fictional characters, Captain Nemo and Captain Ahab, as adversaries.  It then weaves in a real-life character from history, a British engineer of the ship, The Great Eastern, as the captains battle through the latter half of the 19th century, as one tries to prevent the laying of the Transatlantic cable from Britain to the US.

The Great Eastern, published June 4, 2019, by Melville House Books, has already been acquired by Great Point Media — a London-based content and media company. Rodman, former Writers Guild of America West president, will also write the screenplay for the film. 

Howard A Rodman '71, is a screenwriter, novelist, and educator and was editor-in-chief of The Cornell Sun in 1970-71 He is a former Writers Guild of America West president; professor and former chair of the writing division at the USC School of Cinematic Arts; an artistic director of the Sundance Institute Screenwriting Labs; a member of the executive committee of the Writers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; and a fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities.

His films include Savage Grace, starring Julianne Moore, and August, with Josh Hartnett, Rip Torn, and David Bowie – both of which had their U.S. premieres at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. They were released in 2008 from IFC and First Look, respectively. Rodman's screenplay for Savage Grace was nominated for a Spirit Award in the Best Screenplay category.

This event is co-sponsored with the Department of English and Cornell Creative Writing Program